Terawatt
by Garbozzington
Summary: Theresa Watts is a waitress in a small town in New Mexico has been struck by lightning and it will changer her life forever, can she handle the pressure of being a superhero? Bruce Banner/OC, slight Loki/OC rated for language
1. Chapter 1

**My first Avengers fic, I couldn't help myself once I saw the movie. Also most of what I know about the characters is from the most recent movie versions, if I think it necessary for the story I might look up additional info but please don't be annoyed if certain details aren't perfect the plot is so intricate but I'm doing my best to weave my character in well. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Theresa Watts and a potential character cameo from my Misfits fic (if you've read it you'll know who it is, if not it really doesn't make a difference) **

**Hope you enjoy, sorry it's a bit short, hopeful the next chapter will be longer. **

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"Can I get the Hungry Man's breakfast, with a side of hash browns?" The obese man with the curly black beard asked, "Oh and some coffee too please."

"Sure thing," I jotted his order onto my note pad and grabbed his menu before retreating to tack his order up and grab the coffee pot.

"Quick everyone out! Out through the back!" An older gentleman in a plaid shirt came in out of nowhere and started ushering people out.

"What's going on?" I asked naturally a bit curious since it's not everyday something even a tiny bit exciting happens.

He hesitated, "Something bad, help me get these people out of here!"

I opened my mouth to protest when a giant thud resounded through the building and I caught a glimpse of something fiery through the window. Without hesitation I jumped behind the counter and pulled the fire alarm on the wall behind the register and smiled, shamelessly proud of what I thought was a smart move.

I made sure I was the last out, I checked all the back rooms and washrooms, making sure no one got left behind. The older man had run out just after I pulled the alarm, probably to evacuate some other building.

The noise that prompted me to pull the fire alarm was nothing compared to the noises I heard as I sheepishly crawled towards the front door of the diner. Gnashing metal, crunching bones and buildings getting demolished.

I peaked outside the door and just up the street saw a blonde man lying on his back in the street, a small brunette kneeling next to him crying her eyes out. The man who came into the diner earlier was standing off to the side with a young girl. Next to them were a group I can only describe as weirder than weird… they looked like they stepped out of a painting.

A rotund man with a long reddish beard, a woman with probably the longest hair in existence. Next to them was a man presumably of Asian decent with an explosion of black hair at the back of his head. Finally a young man who would look average were it not for the large yellow handlebar mustache covering a third of his face.

Believe it or not, the weirdest part about them wasn't even their faces; they were wearing the strangest armor it was metal and leather but it didn't look medieval, it almost looked futuristic.

Once I worked up the courage to actually exit the diner I did what I did best, I melted into the background as a bystander.

It was then that I noticed the gigantic metal man stalking away from the blonde man, it was like a robot but it's movement was so fluid, unlike anything I'd ever seen.

Right when I was beginning to think I had missed all the action, I heard the whirring noise that happens when you throw something really fast. Then the sun reflected off something in the distance that was gradually increasing in size.

It came so fast that I couldn't be sure what it was until the blonde man, who I thought was dead, raised his fist in the air and caught it.

A giant hammer, not like a tool hammer but like a weapon one, like a mallet, it was huge but looked so natural in his hand. It obviously belonged to him because the moment his hand connected with the handle armor similar to the four weirdos off to the side started coming out of the hammer and shaping around his arms. Before long he looked just like them, he even had a cape.

"Holy shit," I said out loud, everyone was too distracted to notice me, which I deemed a good sign, since I was bystanding and wanted to see what happened next..

The man was completely engulfed in lightning that shot out randomly all around him, breaking windows and singing telephone poles.

I scrambled to my feet and turned to run back into the diner for fear of getting struck by lightning, then I fell.

My body felt hot, white hot, so hot it was cold, my brain pulsed in my skull. _I am dead_. I felt the ground rumble with the next roll of thunder as soon as my face hit the pavement. I couldn't see or hear anything, not even white noise, not even my pulse, just nothing. The pavement was hot like when you stick your hand on the roof of a black car in the middle of summer. _What a weird thing to think while I'm dying_. Then the nothingness before my eyes expanded until there was nothingness in my thoughts.

"M'am? Stay with us, come on," I felt someone thumping on my chest and a weight across my hips, a horrid smell drifted into my nostrils, fire and blood and burning hair.

My eyes fluttered open ever so slightly; I was blinded by the fluorescent lights of what I was sure was a hospital. The thumping on my chest and the weight on my hips was a small red-haired woman, a paramedic, straddling me giving me CPR.

To her credit she stopped as soon as she noticed I was awake, "She's conscious!" she placed a gloved hand at the side of my neck and felt for a pulse.

I felt my eyes drifting closed, my body felt hot and tingly, "No, no, no stay with me sweetie," she patted my cheeks gently, "Her pulse is fading."  
She turned back to me, I now realized we were on a moving gurney which explains why she was still on top of me, "Just stay awake a little longer," she said as we were pushed into an elevator.

"My name's Eileen, what's your's?" she asked still holding my pulse, I recognized her voice had an accent, she wasn't from America, England probably.

"T-Theresa Watts," I croaked, my throat pulsing with pain as soon as I spoke.

I felt a swelling pressure in my chest, "Theresa stay with me!" Eileen ordered in vain as I closed my eyes.

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**Please Review! Be nice! or don't I really won't take it personally lol**


	2. Chapter 2

**I've finally stopped being a lazy ass and wrote some more, sorry for the wait.**

**Disclaimer: I think you all know what I own.**

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"Miss Watts?" I felt my eyelids lifted involuntarily.

I moaned as I felt the hot pain radiating through my body once more, I opened my mouth to speak, _"What happened?"_ my mind formed the words but my voice fell short.

I coughed enthusiastically and was passed a paper cup of water by the grey haired man who was just playing with my eyelids and a flashlight moments ago.

"Thanks," I said my voice somewhat back to normal, "What happened?"

There were two men standing before me, the two so drastically different I nearly burst into laughter.

Where one was tall and imposing the other was small an sniffling, one wore a white lab coat, the other a black, leather trench coat. Clearly the short grey haired man in the lab coat was my doctor, but I had no clue who the other man was.

"Who are you?" I asked staring shamelessly at the eye-patch toting giant towering over my tiny Keebler elf of a physician.

"Doctor Howell, if you wouldn't mind stepping out for a moment," The way he said it you could tell it was so much more than a suggestion.

"Well your not terrifying at all," I scoffed once Doctor Howell had shuffled out of the room mumbling.

"Miss Watts, I'm Director Fury," he said as though it should mean something.

"Cool, uhm Director of what?"

"The Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate, more commonly known as S.H.I.E.L.D."

"And that is what exactly?" I asked still not quite understanding.

"We're an intelligence agency, similar to the C.I.A., but much more," he paused searching for the word, "Secretive."

"I still don't understand why you're in my hospital room, Hell, I don't even know why _I'm_ in my hospital room."

"I've come here to offer you a job Miss Watts," He folded his hands in front of him looking even more official than when he had first stated his title.

"You what?" Had I been drinking anything I surely would have sprayed it all over the room, "I'm a waitress at a crappy diner in New Mexico, and I'm not even a good waitress."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. Takes a special interest in individuals with certain… skill sets, because you are one such individual I believe you could of value to us."

"Yeah, that'd be great except I don't _have _any skills!" I said loudly, "Seriously am I dead? Did they give me too much morphine? Nurse!"

"Calm down, Miss Watts," he said clearly startled by my outburst.

"If the next words out of your mouth aren't an explanation of why I'm here and what you want from me so help me you better learn braille, 'cause I will come over there an-"

"Enough!" he cut off my threat, "What is wrong with you?" he raised his eyebrow at me, "What do you remember?"

"The blonde guy and the giant robot and a storm."

"The 'blonde guy'? That was Thor, all you need to know about him for now is that he's foreign and very powerful. The 'giant robot' was a very advanced weapon from a very advanced place, and the storm was a freak happening caused something in the magnetic field of the robot and Thor's weapon."

"Hold the phone, Thor as in, Thor the God of Thunder, Thor?" I gaped.

"Something like that, anyways, you're here because you were unintentionally struck by the lightning from this magnetic field." I opened my mouth to speak but he held up his finger and continued, "When they brought you in, you were dead, plain and simple but a very persistent paramedic gave you CPR all the way to the hospital."

I smirked as I remembered Eileen, "After being dead for close to twenty minutes your heart mysteriously started up again. Everyone assumed if you lived you'd be comatose or at the very least severely brain-damaged. But you regained consciousness before a doctor could even check your pulse. You suffered a cardiac arrest shortly after and were rushed into the operating room. When they opened you up…" he paused.

"When they opened you up, your heart was barely damaged, in fact the damage was repairing itself right before their eyes." Seeing my eyes bug out, he continued, "I wouldn't have believed it either had I not seen footage of the surgery, anyways you healed yourself. The doctors were scared, but they assumed you were fine, until your heart stopped again, this time they brought in the defibrillator. Your heart short-circuited the defibrillator, it exploded and all the electronics in the room even cell phones, went haywire."

He was finally done recounting what had happened since I'd lost consciousness at the diner. It didn't feel like it was about me, it felt like I had just heard a summary of the plot from the latest blockbuster action movie. I had to be losing my mind.

"Did it hurt anybody?" I gulped some water down, "The explosion I mean, did anyone get hurt?"

"No, other than a couple electrical burns everyone's fine."

"Good," I nodded but remained focused on my right hand gripping the paper cup in front of me. Then for no discernible reason I looked over to my left hand resting on the blanket on top of my stomach. It was wrapped completely in gauze and medical tape from my fingers all the way up under my shirt.

"What the hell?" I muttered looking down my shirt, the bandaged continued over my shoulder and across my chest as far down my torso as I could see under the hospital gown. I flipped the blanket back and saw that my right leg was bandaged all the way down to my my toes.

"What's this?" I asked gesturing from left arm to right leg.

"You were burned by the lightning, the burns were severe, but seeing as you heal almost a hundred times the rate of a normal human, they're most likely much less gruesome."

I pulled the blanket back around me and stiffly pulled my knees to my chest, or as far as they would go with the ridiculous bandages covering half my body.

"Miss Watts you're extraordinarily lucky, most people would've died had they been through the same thing."

"Most people probably can't short-circuit hospital equipment with their heart either." I said sarcastically.

"Look I came here because I thought maybe you might want to be something more than a waitress, you can make a difference in the world, you can help people."

"How! How could I possibly help anyone!"

"Even if the electricity thing turns out to be a one time event, you're body could hold the secret to curing cancer, or any number of diseases it could even prevent ageing. Think how many people you could help by letting us learn from you."

I considered my life as it was before the lightning, working at a hole in the wall serving fat truckers Spam and eggs. Going home to an empty house every night to fall asleep on the couch watching infomercials; only to get up in the morning and do it all again.

"What will happen?" I look up for the first time since I saw my bandages, "What will happen if I agree to work for you?"

"You'll go to headquarters and undergo testing to determine you're abilities, regenerative and otherwise."

"Where are your headquarters?" I asked worrying about my lack of U.S. citizenship.

"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say."

"Okay well I'll go, I'll work for you but I think you should know something first, I'm not an American citizen and my working Visa expired six months ago, which is why I now live in New Mexico."

"What citizenship do you have?" he asked curiously.

"I'm Canadian."

"Are you asking for American citizenship?"

"No, I like being Canadian."

"You can't work for SHIELD unless you're an American citizen."

I was kind of curious now and didn't want to lose my opportunity, "What about dual-citizenship?"

He smiled ever so slightly before moving forward to shake my hand, "I think we have a deal."

"I'll send an agent over in a few hours to escort you to headquarters," Fury saluted halfheartedly before sauntering out of the room.

I slumped back in bed once he left, it was like he commanded my attention not only mentally but physically as well.

I flicked through the few available channels on the small television before drifting off to sleep in middle of a cooking show.


	3. Chapter 3

"Miss Watts?" A light tapping on the door roused me from my slumber, "I'm Agent Coulson, I'm here to escort you to SHIELD headquarters." A very average looking man stood in the doorway to my room, he wore a crisp clean suit, there were two men standing off to the side wearing darker suits, one held a briefcase and the other a duffel bag.  
"So I get to leave the hospital already?" I sat up eagerly.

"Well due to the, uh- unusual nature of your recovery, the hospital has deemed you fit to check out," Agent Coulson stood very stiff and straight, very professional.

"Okay..." I paused, "Do I get to pack?"

"Yes, of course but we ask that due to space constraints you only pack one suit case, SHIELD will provide you will anything you might need, so it is encouraged that you only pack things with some sentimental meaning."

"Alright, sure..." I could see the concern in the Agent's eyes, "Sorry, this is all just a bit much to take in, less than 12 hours ago I was a nobody and now I- now, well I don't know who I am..."  
"We realize that we are asking a great deal from you but, we think you could turn out to be an invaluable member of SHIELD, that is once we assess your risk factor. If you give us consent for an overall evaluation we can determine whether you are suited to be employed by SHIELD, but for now, we'd like you to come with us."  
I hesitated before speaking, hearing this from almost anyone else I might not trust them, but there was something truly noble about Agent Coulson, I decided to give it a try, what did I honestly have to lose. "So what about my accommodations? Should I tell my landlord I'm moving out?"

"That's already been taken care of," he smirked, clearly pleased with the efficiency of it all.

"Well that definitely couldn't have backfired at all," I mumbled sarcastically, "Alright well, I'm pretty sure I don't have anything to wear out of here seeing as my uniform was burned off by some crazy lightning storm, so yeah, bit of a problem..."

"Not a problem at all," Agent Coulson gestured toward the man holding the duffel bag, "SHIELD will provide you with all the clothes you will need and once your, erm, condition has been fully assessed you will be provided with a uniform."

Coulson nodded to the man with the duffel bag and he set it on the chair,  
"We'll leave you to get dressed now."  
I'd been so overwhelmed I hadn't even gone to the washroom and was just now starting to feel the pressure of my full bladder.

I carefully washed my one bandage-free hand and looked up, coming face to face with myself. I didn't look any different, which was comforting, since I didn't feel any different. I leaned close to the mirror expecting to see at least a couple of scratches or even the shadow of a bruise from the other day, but there was nothing. I looked just I had when I left for work the previous morning, yet so much had happened. Seeing my own reflection almost made me doubt whether it was even real.

However, the bandages draped around me told a different story. My right hand trembled as I moved it towards the end of the wrapping on my left hand. I slowly started to unravel the dressing. Layer after layer revealed more skin and more of the strange scarring that came as a result of being struck by lightening.

The scar itself looked like lightning, it was slightly darker than my natural skin tone and spread up my arm like a tattoo, the asymmetrical and seemingly random pattern greatly resembled tree branches. I had a lightning tree as a permanent reminder of the day my life changed irrevocably because although I might not stay with SHIELD I could tell my life would never go back to the way it was.

Once I had the bandage undone all the way up my arm I pulled my hospital gown off and continued unravelling. My left shoulder must have been where the lightning originated because there was a dark spot right where my neck and shoulder met. The scar disappeared behind me and I twisted to see it in the mirror. It crossed over my upper back and then came across my stomach and carried down my right leg, ending on the top of my foot.

"Woah," I breathed as I took it all in.

Finally dragging my eyes from my reflection I unzipped the duffel bag and pulled out sweat pants and a long sleeve thermal. Both were gray and both covered as much of my scar as I could hope for. There was also a pair of black tennis shoes which were somehow the right size.

I left the bathroom to find Coulson pacing the room talking on his cell phone, in a hushed voice. I cleared my throat, he jumped but quickly recovered and gave me a small smile, "I'll report once I arrive," he hung up.

"All set then?," he moved to take the duffel bag from me and hesitated momentarily as he saw my scars.

"They're weird right?" I said glancing down at my own hand as I held out the bag for him.

"I've seen weirder," Coulson replied truthfully, "Besides everything comes with a price, just be thankful yours was only superficial."

I nodded considering his wise words, if what Fury said was true then I could heal, I would virtually never get hurt again, did this mean I could never die...  
That last thought snapped me back to the hallway I was walking down a few paces behind Coulson.

"Alright, so we'll just stop by your house briefly and then be on our way." Coulson said as he held open the back door of a black SUV with tinted windows.

It was when I was finally back in my own home that I started to doubt my decision to go with SHIELD. I hadn't been able to bring myself to pack, then I got an idea, a plan.  
"Uh, Agent?" I tapped Coulson's shoulder as I approached where he stood on my front porch.

"Is there anyway we can postpone this?" Coulson just stared at me clearly not understanding. "Look I really appreciate the offer and everything but it's a _lot_ of information to take in at once, I think maybe if we postponed this whole guinea pig thing for a while I might feel better about it. I need to come to terms with this and what it could mean for me..."

There was genuine sympathy in his eyes, he gave a solemn nod, "I'll see what I can do."

I smiled my thanks and returned back into my house to change into some of my own clothes. About twenty minutes later I stepped back out onto the porch and to find Coulson pacing in my driveway once again on the phone.

I still couldn't make out what he was saying but I could tell from his face that it was a heated conversation. Several minutes later he hung up, rubbed his brow in exasperation and ascended my front steps.

"Fury isn't happy with this," my heart sunk, "But, he's agreed to give you a week, and at the end of that week you must be waiting and ready."

"Really? Just like that?"

"No, not just like that, it took a great deal of convincing and you're also going to be under surveillance around the clock."

"So that means...?" I asked sensing that he was implying something when he said this.

"No running," he said bluntly, "You even think about it and I can assure you it will not end well; for anyone."

Taken aback by this calm man's ominous words I just nodded dumbly before he put on his sunglasses and turned away.

"We'll be in touch," he called over his shoulder as he walked back to the car where the two large men from the hospital were waiting.

I called work the next morning and they said I could come in for the lunchtime shift. The diner hadn't sustained much damage during "the storm" which is what everyone had been referring to the incident as.

The kitchen was getting hot so I pulled my hair back with a tie and continued making coffee for the demanding customers.

"Woah what happened to your hair Watts?" Mikey, the fry cook asked as he placed a take out bag in the service window and rang the bell.

"What? What's wrong with it?" my hand flew up in search of stray hairs or lumps in my half-assed ponytail.

"Right there," he pointed to the side of his own head to show where it was, "Your hair's white."

Without a word I walked out from behind the counter and to the staff bathroom, I locked the door behind me before turning to the mirror. Nestled in with my brown hair was a chunk of white-ish gray hair.

How could I have missed that? I wondered as I touched it gingerly.  
"It must've been from the lightning…" I said weakly, to Mikey as I returned to my post behind the counter.

"Looks pretty badass if you ask me," Mikey grinned before turingbak to his deep fryer.

Around 2:30 we ran out of coffee filters so I scurried to the back to get some more, leaving a younger less experienced waitress to man the register.

I was bent over picking up the keys to the storage room when I heard a loud crack that made me jump up and smack my head on the door knob.

I cursed holding the back of my head, I pocketed the keys and jogged up to the front. Instead of just bursting out into the diner I peaked through the window in the doors. Two men in ski masks were waving guns, "For Christ's sake," I mumbled.

I turned and quietly started creeping back to the manager's office where the main phone was located along with the safe. Unfortunately I was either too slow, or too loud because only seconds later a man came barrelling through the back door.

He grabbed me by the ponytail and dragged me to the front and threw me on the ground near a family of four had huddled up together on the floor.

"Who else is back there?" He asked in a gruff voice keeping his eyes and his gun trained on me.  
"N-no one," I stammered, tears stinging my eyes.

"I swear to God if you called the cops you're dead," he turned from me, clearly having moved on to check his partner. One at the cash register prodding at the new girl who was bawling like a small child, then a third man who I hadn't noticed earlier who was taking wallets from the customers and shoving them in a bag.

Just then I and most likely everyone in the store heard the familiar sound of sirens getting steadily louder.

"You lying bitch!" The one who found me shouted as he pointed the gun at me and pulled the trigger without flinching.

He shot me in the left leg, blood started pooling on my tights, I yelled from the pain and the lights in the store shorted and went out, the security system started ringing it's alarm even though no one tripped it and the music playing over the speakers turned to white noise.

Everyone looked around in confusion and I clutched my leg expecting the pressure I put on it to hurt more but it didn't. I assumed I was in shock until I probed my leg further, it felt like nothing more than poking my leg, no searing white hot pain, no ragged edges of flesh where a speeding bullet had entered my body. It was just a shallow dent which I could feel slowly growing shallower until something round came out of my leg, I held in my hand the bullet that was just inside me.

I was completely unaware of the nearby customers screaming or fussing over me, the hoodlums cursing, the cops on their megaphone. I was baffled by my own body, I must be hallucinating I told myself as I grasped the torn edges of my tights and pulled until I could see most of my thigh.

The skin was bloody but solid and unharmed, I nearly passed out then and there but I remembered the situation at hand and the innocent people caught in the crossfire of this desperate attempt.

The man who shot me was panicking but still supposed to be watching us, his gun was pointed vaguely in our direction but he was very clearly distracted. His accomplices were arguing in hushed voices by the register, their guns hidden where I couldn't see. I considered what might happen if I were to grab the man's gun, his grip would tighten on it the moment mine did, but the other two weren't looking, maybe someone could get away.

I turned to the family of four just behind me, the parents were too busy comforting their crying children to notice our surroundings.

"Hey," the mother looked at me eyes wide as plates, "I'm gonna do something really stupid but it will probably mean some people can get away, as soon I yell 'go' I want you and your family to run as fast as you can to the door, take as many people with you as you can."

She stared at me blankly, her giant eyes glistening with tears she refused to let go of, probably for the sake of her kids.

"Do you understand?" I said a little more roughly than I intended to.

She nodded, taking that as my signal I jumped up once I was sure the gunman was distracted and grabbed the gun where he held it. Naturally he pulled the trigger, I expected this but I didn't move because I also expected my skin to reject this bullet like it had the previous. I did double over in pain but I suppressed my scream because in my peripherals I could see the family and others moving towards the door.

The man yelled but his companions were too late, everyone but myself had already left. In a fit of rage the man pulled off his mask before the other two could stop him and he shot me four, five, six times, the last of which hit me in the side of the head.

I was screaming internally because I didn't even know if I'd heal twice let alone six times, especially in the head. The last thing I saw was the dirty blonde hair of my attacker, his far apart eyes and protruding ears.


End file.
